September 2010

September 30, 2010

My overall favorite craft projects are ones that involve rocks. We have painted on rocks with acrylics for Easter, heated rocks in the oven for "painting" with crayons, and, most recently, we have started creating these story stones with fabric and mod podge. Here are the latest ones, inspired by the cool, windy weather.

I want to make some leaves next, but I have to find some red, yellow and orange fabrics. Here is our basket so far, in front of a little girl I was watching.

And here are some other favorites.

I am always collecting smooth rocks whenever we are out! I see myself making loads and loads of these wonderful stones, especially in the cooler months when story-telling is at its peak. I love the tactile approach to story-telling, and I especially love watching Esme's inner, and highly imaginative, world come alive. Asher likes the rocks too, but hasn't quite got the story part figured out yet.

September 29, 2010

As promised in my post about going to Hickory Nut Gap Farm, here is the art project we did earlier that day. I know, I am so behind. I was blown away by the results of this painting project, made with corn syrup, food coloring and crayons (as a resist). I knew the kids would love it, too.

In this photo, Asher's painting is on the left and Esme's is on the right. Asher drew his own resist, but Esme' wanted me to do hers. I didn't mind since the main part of this process was to learn about the corn syrup.

I took a sideways photo to show how glossy the end result is. My camera wouldn't capture anything good from any other angle. I can't wait to do this project again... especially since my painting somehow got folded and stuck together. I recommend drying flat for three days!!

September 20, 2010

Sometime last week, I came upon this great tutorial. I knew the kids would love it, so I got the construction paper out and made one for each of them. They stood close by, watching all the colorful folding very intently.

September 19, 2010

I found this beautiful poem at one of my favorite blogs the other day, and I decided to turn it into something for our Autumn nature table. I found a leaf printable on-line, cut it out, and then traced it onto watercolor paper. I wrote the poem with my Berol Prismacolor colored pencils, then used watercolors on top to make it look like a leaf.

The next project was something I have been wanting to do for a long time. I found some lovely fall colored wool roving and leaf/acorn cookie cutters on e-bay (I love e-bay!!) and this tutorial. Instead of making Christmas ornaments, we decided to make leaves and acorns. Eventually, after making a few more, I will string them into a garland. This was our first attempt at this project, and the yellow leaf and one of the acorns fell apart after drying.

Some photos of the process...Esme' loved this project!

It is in Esme's nature to turn everything into role-play. You can see in the above photo how she was pretending that the wool was some sort of animal.

She made her very own butterfly and heart! The green came off the butterfly, but otherwise she did a great job! I like her color choices.

Asher was sleeping, but he wants me to make him a car. Anyone have a car cookie cutter?!

This has been a wonderful Sunday. We had eggs, toast and bacon for breakfast. We did a new art project (I will write about it soon). Then we headed out to the farm. It was a bit warmer than I thought it would be today. Usually we go to the farm in October, but because I love it so much, I want to take them twice this year (and we might have Esme's birthday party there!!). We did our usual rounds- went in the shop for sausage, soap, honey; filled up a bag of apples; held the chicks. And this time, Esme' got an extra special treat. She got to feed a calf!!

Here is Asher, wildly chasing the chickens.

And, after I caught one for him, he said "I being calm".

Here is our loot!!! I can't wait to make Mom's potato sausage soup and apple crisp!!

Last night, I made elderberry syrup from this recipe at 5 Orange Potatoes. I keep hearing about the wonderful benefits of elderberry, so this year we are prepared.

It was really neat to see how the elderberry liquid settled on top of the honey. It would have stayed separated if I had not shaken it. And here is the finished bottle.

While I am on the topic of immunity, here are some other things that I swear by in the Autumn. They help prevent allergies, colds and flu. So far so good for this season. On the far left is an ayurvedic herbal jam called chyavanprash. It is very tasty and sometimes can curb my cravings for chocolate (and if you know me well, that is saying something!). The essential oils are the ones found in the Young Living brand of Thieves oil. A friend had recommended that oil last year when our household was down with a cold. I looked it up on-line and realized that I already had 3 of the 5 oils, so I decided to just make my own blend. I burn it in an oil diffuser every day. It smells great!

Back to the elderberry. When I was done with the syrup, I decided to try dyeing some playsilks (Esme's teacher, Susanne, was given a huge bag of leftovers from a fabric company and she shared a rather large bag with us) with more of the liquid. I just boiled the berries with more water for another hour and let the playsilks sit in the juice overnight. The color turned out quite nice. A light mauve color (they look a bit more pink in the photos).

I know of several more natural dyes- walnut, beet, turmeric. Does anyone have any other ideas for natural dyes?

September 18, 2010

I took a bunch of photos at Esme's kindergarten the other day and wanted to share some of them. The first photo shows the true kindergarten- a garden for children. This is where the kids spend most of their day. Esme's favorite part is, of course, the swing!

Next are some shots from the screened-in porch. This is where the teacher, Susanne, has set up an outdoor kitchen, complete with a picnic table for the kids and a potty. The paintings hanging up are all made by the children, as was the bread in the bowl. The box of acorns was collected by the children and they will eventually grind it in a mill and bake bread with it!! How neat is that?!!

September 16, 2010

We have had a change of plans regarding Esme's schooling. Shortly before her school year was to start at her original school, we met with a woman who was going to be doing a home-based Waldorf kindergarten in her home. I had a good feeling about it, but thought that we would still try the public school to see how we all felt about it. Esme' came home every day with mainly a negative thing to say about her experience. "Why do I have to hold my pee?" she asked. And "Why don't they give me time to eat my lunch?", "Why do we stand in lines all day?", and "Why do they make me sit with my legs crossed? My legs hurt." On top of these complaints, my husband and I were shocked at what the school served as a snack every day. I envisioned apples, oranges, carrots, crackers, etc. But all the snacks turned out to be sugary. On the first day, she was served two gingerbread cookies with red hot candies on top of them! But, ultimately, it wasn't the negative aspects of the school that compelled us to make the switch. It was the positive aspects of the Waldorf school. Mainly, we love how much time Esme' gets outside. I truly believe that small children learn best when they are in nature. Esme' seems to be thriving... she comes home saying "I LOVE it!!!! She has so many more things she wants to share with me when she comes home, and that says it all to me.